Automatic dishwasher receiving means



I May 12., 1970 MASLOW AUTOMATIC DISHWASHER RECEIVING MEANS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 RM mm s Filed Jan. 26. 1968 =L=L Li INVENIOR.

A '1 TORNE 3'5 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 L. MAsLow AUTOMATIC DISHWASHER RECEIVING MEANS May 12, 1970 Filgdqan. 26, 1968 [0 (/Ar W54 014/ H P III m United States Patent 3,511,387 AUTOMATIC DISHWASHER RECEIVING MEANS Louis Maslow, Huntsville Road, Dallas, Pa. 18612 Filed Jan. 26, 1968, Ser. No. 700,889 Int. Cl. A47f 3/14 US. Cl. 211-126 18 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the invention This invention relates generally to automatic dishwashers and more particularly to the crockery and utensil carrier receptacles therefor.

(2) Description of the prior art Crockery and utensil carrier members for placement inside industrial (as well as home) automatic dishwashers are of course well known. Generally what is done is to place the dirty dishes, glass and utensils, etc. into a carrier member and thence it is inserted into the dishwater for washing under conditions of hot water, soap and agitation either by water pressure or by oscillating arms. It is a problem in industrial dishwashing that when it is desirous to stack two or more laden carrier members together, for efficiency of storage and drying of the washed articles, outside the dishwasher, that the prior art carriers are not readily stackable tending to cause the laden carriers to tilt and slide about causing either their ultimate dislodgement and/or breakage of the dishes and glasses contained therein. If the carriers are not stacked then, they occupy a great deal of floor space which is a serious disadvantage.

It would therefore be of tremendous advantage to provide carrier members for crockery and utensils which could be easily stacked outside the washer, While at the same time be adapted to resist dislodgement and/or breakage of the crockery contained therein. It would also be of advantage to provide a carrier member, as aforesaid, which is made of plastic, since heretofore, none has been available for conu'nercial operations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, one of the principal objectives of this invention to provide carrier members for an automatic dishwasher that will overcome the aforesaid prior art problems.

In accordance with the present invention, novel receiving means for an automatic dishwasher have been provided comprising carrier members, for holding the crockery and utensils to be washed, which carrier members are each associatingly adapted to be simultaneously detachably engageable and slidingly unengageable when so detachably engaged to one another.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The invention will be hereinafter more fully described with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a pair of carrier members according to the invention showing them in detached relationship, partially cut away and in cross-section.

FIG. 2 is a fragmented top plan view of one carirer member of the invention, looking down along line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a fragmented top plan view of another carrier member of the invention, looking down along line 33 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a fragmented View showing the carrier members of FIGS. 2 and 3 in attached concentric relationship.

FIG. 5 is a fragmented view taken along line 55 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view in perspective (similar to FIG. 4) showing the pair of carrier members in detachably engaged concentric relationship.

Description of the preferred embodiments Referring now to the figures of the drawings, FIG. 1 for purposes of illustration, depicts a carrier member 10 in detached superimposed relationship to another car rier member 12. Carrier members 10 and 12 conform to a generally shallow cylindrical shape, however, this is not essential since it is to be understood that the cylindrical shape may vary in height. Carrier member 10 is open at the top 14 and has grid bottom 16 (FIG. 2); carrier 12 is similar to 10 except it has a bottom comprising a plurality of inter-connected pyramidally shaped holding members 20. The said grid bottom is usually employed to hold glasses, cups or utensils, while the said pyramidal members generally are used to hold plates or bowls. However, the configuration of the carrier bottom is not critical to the invention, since it may be any conventional crockery or utensil supporting member known to the art, the invention, as subsequently described, lying elsewhere.

Referring now to the remainder of the figures, in which like parts will be identified by like reference numerals, the carrier member of the invention is preferably cast as an integral plastic body 22, and generally cylindrically shaped, as aforementioned. The upper portion 24 of said body 22 (approximately the upper half) has a larger diameter than that of lower portion 26 with the result that lower portion 26 is concentrically adapted to be received inside of upper portion 24 of another carrier member, e.g. carrier member 10 inside carrier member 12. Also, as a result of the different diameter sizes, described above, a plurality of external flanges 30 and internal flanges 32 are formed at the juncture of upper and lower portions 24 and 26, respectively, of body 22, which can be best seen, especially, in FIGS. 1 and 6. Conveniently, the carrier member is provided with, a plurality of oblong shaped apertures 40 which are approximately equally located in upper and lower portions 24 and 26, said oblong being parallel to the horizontal plane of said cylindrical body 22, and being further provided to allow for the circulation of wash water therethrough. It will be seen that each aperture 40 terminates at each oblong end at flanges 30 and 32, however, this is not critical to the invention, since the apertures could be of varying smaller size. A plurality of vertical, inwardly directed channel members are provided in the vertical circular walls 52 and 54 of lower and upper body portions 26 and 24, respectively, said channel members being generally rectangular in front conformation. The aforesaid channel members 50 are preferably provided so that they extend into the generally central part of every other flange 30, 32, preferably, the extreme end of said channel 50 terminating preferably at about the beginning of the upper third 62 of upper portion 24. This terminus point is not critical and may be varied as desired.

Channel member 50 is generally rectangularly shaped having a vertically disposed rear wall 70 and a pair of opposing parallel side walls 72 and 74, integral therewith and at right angles thereto. Projecting vertically from the upper end 76 of side wall 74, and integral therewith, is a rib member 78 which can best be seen in FIG. 6, for example. Rib member 78 is broader at its base 80 i.e. corresponding to the width of wall 74, and tapers upwardly from said base, finally terminating at a point 82, slightly below the rim 84 of upper portion 24 of body 22.

Thus when it is desirous, according to an essential feature of the invention, to stack two or more carrier members, such as or 12 in any desired arrangement, what is done is to superimpose carrier member 10 over carrier member 12, as shown in FIG. 1, so that they are in resulting concentric relationship by means of lower portion 26 of body 22 of carrier 10 fitting inside upper portion 24 of body 22 of carrier 12, taking care that rim members 78 are in approximate registered inserting relationship with channel members 50 of the superimposed upper carrier member 10. When the carrier members are thus joined together rim member 78 being engaged inside its associated channel member 50, and the lower rim 90 of lower portion 26 resting on inside flanges 32, presents a pair of concentrically stacked carrier members that are detachably engageable and at the same time slidingly unengageable. In other words, rib member 78 inside channel member 50 permits horizontal locking of the two carriers while the carriers are free to be vertically displaced by simply drawing the upper stacked carrier off the lower one. This stacking feature can best be seen by referring especially to FIGS. 4-6. It is to be understood that while two different carrier members, e.g. one having a grid bottom and one a pyramidal bottom, have been illustrated as stacked together, they may be the same or different, and that more than two can be con- -veniently stacked. This latter feature is provided by virtue of the fact that each individual carrier member is adapted to be superimposed upon by another like adapted carrier member, and so forth, ad infinitum, subject to space requirements, which results in efiicient employment of the space around the washing machines.

It is to be understood that crockery and utensils mentioned hereina'bove are defined to mean all types of glassware, dishware, utensils and the like. It is futher to be understood that while the novel carrier members have been described as holding washed articles, it is intended that they could also be used for holding soiled articles until the soiled articles are ready to be washed. They may be also conveniently nested or stacked empty which is advantageous because of space saving around the operational area of the dishwasher, and also because of lower freight rates when shipping nested racks. Moreover, advantageously, the carriers of the invention may be stacked in high or low positions whether empty or full of crockery and utensils.

Having thus described the invention in a specific embodiment thereof, it is understood that various changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. Receiving means for an automatic dishwasher comprising carrier members for holding crockery and utensils, which carrier members are each associatingly adapted to be simultaneously detachably engageable and slidingly unengageable when so detachably engaged to one another and wherein each carrier member further comprises a unitary body member open at one end thereof and provided with supporting means at the other end thereof, said body member having an upper portion and a lower portion, said upper portion having lateral dimensions larger than said lower portion resulting in a plurality of internal flanges, at least one channel member being provided partially in said lower portion and partially in said upper portion, said channel member being further provided with locking means for detachably engaging a like channel member on another like carrier member.

2. Means according to claim 1, wherein each carrier member further comprises a generally cylindrically shaped body member open at one end thereof and provided with supporting means at the other end thereof, said body member having an upper portion and a lower portion, said upper portion being of a larger diameter than said lower portion resulting in a plurality of internal flanges at least one channel member being provided partially in said lower portion and partially in said upper portion, said channel member being further provided with locking means for detachably engaging a like channel member on another like carrier member.

3. Means according to claim 2 wherein a plurality of channel members are provided, each of said channel members being inwardly directed, said channel member being substantially vertically oriented and further comprising a generally rectangular shaped member having a rear wall and a pair of opposing, parallel side walls at right angles thereto and integral therewith, said locking means further comprising a rib member integrally joined and projecting vertically upwardly from one of said side walls.

4. Means according to claim 3 wherein said carrier members are in concentric joined relationship, said rib member extends into an associated channel member on the carrier member above it, thereby detachably engaging said above carrier member while simultaneously rendering it slidingly unengageable.

5. Means according to claim 2 wherein a plurality of channel members are provided in periodic relationship.

6. Means according to claim 2 wherein said carrier member is an integrally cast plastic body.

'7. Means according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of carrier members are joined.

8. Means according to claim 2 wherein said supporting means comprise a grid member.

9. Means according to claim 2 wherein said supporting means comprise a plurality of interconnected pyramidal members.

10. Means according to claim 2 wherein said supporting means comprise a grid member on one of said carrier members and a plurality of interconnected pyramidal members on the other said carrier member.

11. Receiving means for an automatic dishwasher comprising a carrier member for holding crockery and utensils, which carrier member is adapted to be detachably engageable with another like associatingly adapted carrier member, said carrier member further comprising a unitary body member open at one end thereof and provided with supporting means at the other end thereof, said body member having an upper portion and a lower portion, said upper portion having lateral dimensions larger than said lower portion resulting in a plurality of internal flanges, at least one channel member being provided partially in said lower portion and partially in said upper portion, said channel member being further provided with locking means for detachably engaging a like channel member on another like carrier member.

12. Means according to claim 2, wherein at least a pair of said carrier members are disposed in removably joined concentric relationship.

13. Receiving means for an automatic dishwasher comprising carrier members for holding crockery and utensils, which carrier members are each associatingly adapted to be simultaneously detachably engageable and slidingly unengageable when so detachably engaged to one another, and wherein at least a pair of said carrier members are detachably joined in concentric relationship, and each carrier member further comprises a generally cylindrically shaped integral body member open at one end thereof and provided with supporting means at the other end thereof, said body member having an upper portion and a lower portion, said upper portion being of a larger diameter than said lower portion resulting in a plurality of internal flanges at least one channel member being provided partially in said lower portion and partially in said upper portion, said channel member being further provided with locking means for detachably engaging a like channel member on the other like carrier member, said channel member being inwardly directed, said channel member being substantially vertically oriented and further comprising a generally rectangular shaped member having a rear wall and a pair of opposing, parallel side walls at right angles thereto and integral therewith, said locking means further comprising a rib member integrally joined and projecting vertically upwardly from one of said side walls, said rib member extendable into an associated channel member on the carrier member above it, thereby detachably engaging said above carrier member while simultaneously rendering it slidingly unengageable.

14. Means according to claim 13, wherein a plurality of channel members are provided in periodic relationship.

15. Means according to claim 13, wherein said carrier member is an integrally cast plastic body.

16. Means according to claim 13, wherein said supporting means comprise a grid member.

17. Means according to claim 13, wherein said supporting means comprise a plurality of interconnected pyramidal members.

18. Means according to claim 13, wherein said supporting means comprise a grid member on one of said carrier members and a plurality of interconnected pyramidal members on the other said carrier member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,252,582 5/1966 Kesilman 211-126 X 3,283,915 11/1966 Maslow 21l--l26 3,342,346 9/ 1967 Tucker 21l--126 3,407,960 10/1968 Rogus 211126 X NILE C. BYERS, 111., Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 10891 

